Good Cheap Server - HP Proliant Microserver 4 BAY - OWNERS THREAD

pepp77 · 11 May 2015 at 10:30

Just setting up my first Gen8 and boy is it a slow poster! Also do not understand why they have made it so hard to install windows to just a single drive!

MagicBoy · 11 May 2015 at 10:32

It's intended as a small business server...

rickjames · 11 May 2015 at 11:12

Just a query before I go and bite the bullet on these, but does anyone use one wirelessly? Obviously it's not ideal but the only reason I ask is because our broadband router is in the living room and my room is right down the other end; doing a cable run could prove a real mess as I'm living in rented property, can't drill/put up trunking etc.

IT Troll · 11 May 2015 at 11:51

I am sure it would be possible. For neatness, you could use a WiFi dongle on the internal port or fit a card into the expansion slot.

However a better option might be to look into PowerLAN. Than way you should get better speeds and also be able to access the iLO.

Stu · 11 May 2015 at 18:08

rickjames said:
Just a query before I go and bite the bullet on these, but does anyone use one wirelessly? Obviously it's not ideal but the only reason I ask is because our broadband router is in the living room and my room is right down the other end; doing a cable run could prove a real mess as I'm living in rented property, can't drill/put up trunking etc.

Powerline/Home plugs would be better.

ANDARIAL · 11 May 2015 at 18:17

You can read Ext4 under Windows... only you need an extra piece of software and/or driver for it, that's all... quick google if you ever need that option and you'll find many solutions.

Ext4 is faster than NTFS... noticeably.

I've lost less data running on the likes of Ext4 than I have from NTFS... so my personal experience & enterprise experience (most companies with techies in the know use Linux-based fileservers... even Microsoft use CentOS for their download servers!)

Oh did not know that

Thanks for that info,there will be nothing critical on there anyway but nice to know I could get data off in Windows if I had a hardware failure

ANDARIAL · 12 May 2015 at 20:47

Just updated the NAS with the update in the synology app
Big mistake
No longer have access via web
Apparently it is a known issue ,I did not know about
All data is still there but no web acccess ...yet
BE AWARE

div0 · 12 May 2015 at 20:57

This the new 5.2 update? I deliberately held off from installing it yet.

randal · 12 May 2015 at 21:01

Stu said:
Powerline/Home plugs would be better.

A mate had loads of problems using a Gen7 with homeplugs, would get intermittent packet loss and total blackouts randomly. Annoying as we were using it as a TS3 server.

Tracked the problem down to the unit's PSU, don't think it's the best shielded piece of kit going...

ANDARIAL · 12 May 2015 at 21:37

div0 said:
This the new 5.2 update? I deliberately held off from installing it yet.

Yeah I was too eager

abbotsmike · 12 May 2015 at 21:58

randal said:
A mate had loads of problems using a Gen7 with homeplugs, would get intermittent packet loss and total blackouts randomly. Annoying as we were using it as a TS3 server.

Tracked the problem down to the unit's PSU, don't think it's the best shielded piece of kit going...

Homeplugs themselves are a disaster when it comes to noise both in terms of rejection and emission.

Prophet · 12 May 2015 at 22:21

randal said:
A mate had loads of problems using a Gen7 with homeplugs, would get intermittent packet loss and total blackouts randomly. Annoying as we were using it as a TS3 server.

Tracked the problem down to the unit's PSU, don't think it's the best shielded piece of kit going...

abbotsmike said:
Homeplugs themselves are a disaster when it comes to noise both in terms of rejection and emission.

I've been using a old devolo 200 homeplugs with my server for years without any issues. What home plugs are you using?

Stu · 13 May 2015 at 02:03

I've had great results over several years using Devolo and TPlink homeplugs.

ANDARIAL · 14 May 2015 at 19:15

Sorted it now

With help from xpenology.com forums

Note to self:- wait a while before upgrading in future
EDIT
When i set up the synology app i wanted the disks to be individual so i set up as JBOD right?
Looks like the synology app thinks JBOD means combining 2 or more disks into ONE volume :mad:

Only noticed this after copying over nearly 4TB of files

Oh well here we go again with the rebuild

Deep · 17 May 2015 at 00:40

So I bought the Gen 8 with 3 extra 4TB WD Red drives and have been fiddling around all day.

I've decided to run Windows 8.1 Pro N off a USB stick which seems to be working fine, however I can't find the 3 hard drives that are actually in the server?!
I've checked disk management and there is nothing there, does anybody have any idea of what I can do?

nutcase · 17 May 2015 at 05:38

Have you configured the disks in the array controller?

z0mbi3 · 17 May 2015 at 07:09

Gen8 question. How are you all getting around AHCI when booting an SSD from the ODD sata port?

I have 1 ssd and 4 hdds so the ODD port has become unbootable. I've tried installing grub to a 2gb micro sd that I've left in the onboard port, but this consistantly fails to recognise the SSDs UUID and drops me at a rescue grub prompt every time.

The message says something like "unable to find drive" then quotes the correct UUID at me.

If I put from a live usb I can see the SSD fine :confused:

IT Troll · 17 May 2015 at 09:14

Deep said:
I've checked disk management and there is nothing there, does anybody have any idea of what I can do?

Do you have the Controller in AHCI or RAID mode? RAID is actually better even if you are using them as single drives. But, as nutcase said, you still have to configure them into logical drives in the RAID configuration GUI.

Is the controller appearing OK in Device Manager? This will verify that the drivers are OK.

crinkleshoes · 17 May 2015 at 12:11

z0mbi3 said:
Gen8 question. How are you all getting around AHCI when booting an SSD from the ODD sata port?

I have 1 ssd and 4 hdds so the ODD port has become unbootable. I've tried installing grub to a 2gb micro sd that I've left in the onboard port, but this consistantly fails to recognise the SSDs UUID and drops me at a rescue grub prompt every time.

The message says something like "unable to find drive" then quotes the correct UUID at me.

If I put from a live usb I can see the SSD fine

You may have the same problem as Deep... have you configured the SSD as a single "Raid 0" array in the raid controller configuration?

The live USB may have the raid controller drivers installed by default, which would explain why you can see the SSD with that but not otherwise.

Timber · 17 May 2015 at 13:05

z0mbi3 said:
Gen8 question. How are you all getting around AHCI when booting an SSD from the ODD sata port?

I have 1 ssd and 4 hdds so the ODD port has become unbootable. I've tried installing grub to a 2gb micro sd that I've left in the onboard port, but this consistantly fails to recognise the SSDs UUID and drops me at a rescue grub prompt every time.

The message says something like "unable to find drive" then quotes the correct UUID at me.

If I put from a live usb I can see the SSD fine

You can't boot from the onboard SATA port in certain cofigurations. I run Ubuntu Server and just bought a PCI-E SATA expansion card which I can select in the BIOS to boot from via one SSD which cost me about £18.